Gareth Jennings, Seville - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly 
The C295 has furthered its credentials as the tactical transport class leader with the announcement by Airbus DS of additional variants and orders for the aircraft. Source: Airbus DS
Airbus Defence and Space (DS) has disclosed new variants of its C295 transport aircraft, as well as a number of new and follow-on customers.
Speaking at the company's facility in Seville, Spain, on 9 June, Antonio Rodriguez Barberan, head of commercial, military aircraft for Airbus DS, said that three new variants of the C295 were under development (with orders from at least one customer), and that 20 of the existing transport variant aircraft have been sold so far this year.
"We are working on SIGINT [signals intelligence], special operations [gunships], and ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] versions of the C295, and expect a special operations contract from a Middle East operator to be announced shortly," he said, adding: "Already in 2014 we have sold 20 C295 aircraft, which is 100% of the light and medium transport market for this year."
While Barberan declined to be drawn on specifics relating to the Middle Eastern customer of the gunship, he did disclose to IHS Jane's that it is an existing operator of the transport-variant C295 and that the contract would involve modifying existing aircraft rather than supplying new-build platforms.
There is only a relatively small pool of C295 operators in the Middle East (including North Africa), made up of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, and Oman. Given that the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) has only recently received back into service the two CN235 transport aircraft that were modified by ATK into gunships, it is more than likely that the C295 gunship contract is for the RJAF also for use patrolling the country's border with Syria.
Details pertaining to the gunship C295's weapons and sensor fit are not clear, although an Airbus DS briefing slide noted it will be equipped with a para door-mounted sideways-firing 30 mm machine gun, six underwing hardpoints for air-to-surface missiles and/or guided rockets, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) turrets. As well as being a gunship, it will also be capable of performing ground surveillance missions.
Barberan explained that Airbus DS is not yet in a position to announce industrial teaming arrangements for the C295 gunship, except to say: "We are in very intensive dialogues with an industrial partner and customer. It is not yet fully developed, but we will be building on our experience of the CN235 [gunships for Jordan]."
With regard to the SIGINT and ISR versions of the C295, briefing slides showed them to be equipped with electronic surveillance and order of battle mission kit capable of electronic and communications intelligence (ELINT and COMINT), and high-resolution SAR/Ground Mapping Target Indicator radar with EO/IR and ELINT/COMINT capabilities respectively. These additional capabilities will likely be provided in roll-on/roll-off palletised mission kits to enable the aircraft to revert to its basic transport configuration when needed.
Barberan noted also that provisions for the winglet and powerplant upgrades announced in 2013 will begin to built into the baseline aircraft from 2015, although not all operators will choose to adopt them for fleet commonality reasons.
In addition to the new variants of C295, Barberan said that work on the airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) version continues, as do efforts to secure further orders of the maritime patrol and baseline transport models.
On the subject of additional sales, Barberan announced that Ecuador has signed for three transport-variant aircraft, with the first aircraft having been delivered to the country's air force on 6 June. He added that a further 17 aircraft have been sold to undisclosed operators, although a tour of the company's production line revealed Vietnam to be one of those customers. A company spokesperson confirmed this to IHS Jane's , saying that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam had indeed ordered three transport-variant C295 aircraft.
To date, more than 140 C295s have been sold to 20 operators in 19 countries (nine of them repeat orders). Customers comprise one as-yet undisclosed operator, the Algerian Air Force (six), Brazilian Air Force (12), Chilean Navy (three), Colombian Air Force (six), Czech Republic Air Force (four), Ecuadorian Air Force (three), Egyptian Air Force (12), Finnish Air Force (three), Ghanaian Air Force (two), Indonesian Air Force (nine), Royal Jordanian Air Force (two), Kazakhstan Air Force (four), Mexican Air Force (six), Mexican Navy (four), Royal Air Force of Oman (eight), Polish Air Force (17), Portuguese Air Force (12), Spanish Air Force (13), and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Air Force (three).
The C295 has furthered its credentials as the tactical transport class leader with the announcement by Airbus DS of additional variants and orders for the aircraft. Source: Airbus DSAirbus Defence and Space (DS) has disclosed new variants of its C295 transport aircraft, as well as a number of new and follow-on customers.
Speaking at the company's facility in Seville, Spain, on 9 June, Antonio Rodriguez Barberan, head of commercial, military aircraft for Airbus DS, said that three new variants of the C295 were under development (with orders from at least one customer), and that 20 of the existing transport variant aircraft have been sold so far this year.
"We are working on SIGINT [signals intelligence], special operations [gunships], and ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] versions of the C295, and expect a special operations contract from a Middle East operator to be announced shortly," he said, adding: "Already in 2014 we have sold 20 C295 aircraft, which is 100% of the light and medium transport market for this year."
While Barberan declined to be drawn on specifics relating to the Middle Eastern customer of the gunship, he did disclose to IHS Jane's that it is an existing operator of the transport-variant C295 and that the contract would involve modifying existing aircraft rather than supplying new-build platforms.
There is only a relatively small pool of C295 operators in the Middle East (including North Africa), made up of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, and Oman. Given that the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) has only recently received back into service the two CN235 transport aircraft that were modified by ATK into gunships, it is more than likely that the C295 gunship contract is for the RJAF also for use patrolling the country's border with Syria.
Details pertaining to the gunship C295's weapons and sensor fit are not clear, although an Airbus DS briefing slide noted it will be equipped with a para door-mounted sideways-firing 30 mm machine gun, six underwing hardpoints for air-to-surface missiles and/or guided rockets, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) turrets. As well as being a gunship, it will also be capable of performing ground surveillance missions.
Barberan explained that Airbus DS is not yet in a position to announce industrial teaming arrangements for the C295 gunship, except to say: "We are in very intensive dialogues with an industrial partner and customer. It is not yet fully developed, but we will be building on our experience of the CN235 [gunships for Jordan]."
With regard to the SIGINT and ISR versions of the C295, briefing slides showed them to be equipped with electronic surveillance and order of battle mission kit capable of electronic and communications intelligence (ELINT and COMINT), and high-resolution SAR/Ground Mapping Target Indicator radar with EO/IR and ELINT/COMINT capabilities respectively. These additional capabilities will likely be provided in roll-on/roll-off palletised mission kits to enable the aircraft to revert to its basic transport configuration when needed.
Barberan noted also that provisions for the winglet and powerplant upgrades announced in 2013 will begin to built into the baseline aircraft from 2015, although not all operators will choose to adopt them for fleet commonality reasons.
In addition to the new variants of C295, Barberan said that work on the airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) version continues, as do efforts to secure further orders of the maritime patrol and baseline transport models.
On the subject of additional sales, Barberan announced that Ecuador has signed for three transport-variant aircraft, with the first aircraft having been delivered to the country's air force on 6 June. He added that a further 17 aircraft have been sold to undisclosed operators, although a tour of the company's production line revealed Vietnam to be one of those customers. A company spokesperson confirmed this to IHS Jane's , saying that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam had indeed ordered three transport-variant C295 aircraft.
To date, more than 140 C295s have been sold to 20 operators in 19 countries (nine of them repeat orders). Customers comprise one as-yet undisclosed operator, the Algerian Air Force (six), Brazilian Air Force (12), Chilean Navy (three), Colombian Air Force (six), Czech Republic Air Force (four), Ecuadorian Air Force (three), Egyptian Air Force (12), Finnish Air Force (three), Ghanaian Air Force (two), Indonesian Air Force (nine), Royal Jordanian Air Force (two), Kazakhstan Air Force (four), Mexican Air Force (six), Mexican Navy (four), Royal Air Force of Oman (eight), Polish Air Force (17), Portuguese Air Force (12), Spanish Air Force (13), and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Air Force (three).
★ Janes
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